Meet this year’s SPORTS `N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year, Joanna Nieh.
A two-time U.S. Paralympic track & field High School All-American, Nieh recently became the 34th SPORTS `N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year. Nieh’s long athletic resume’ includes some impressive records for both track & field and wheelchair tennis.
Most notably is her wheelchair tennis doubles championship win during the 2019 Les Petits As Girls Wheelchair Tennis Championships, a first-place win in the 2019 NYC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the women’s wheelchair 800 and 1,500-meter race and multiple New York City high school records in wheelchair track for the 300m 600m,800m, 1000m and 1500m.
Nieh, 17, is the first ever wheelchair athlete to compete in the varsity level of the New York City public high school sports program as well as the first ever to win a New York City high school championship.
Ranked as the number one junior wheelchair tennis player in the U.S., the New York resident also holds the distinction of being in the top-100 in the world for women.
Nieh joins the growing fraternity of past SPORTS `N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year winners dating back to 1986 and will receive the SPORTS `N SPOKES Junior Athlete of the Year award, a one-year digital subscription to SPORTS `N SPOKES and a $1,500 SPORTS `N SPOKES Educational Scholarship to be applied towards the college of her choice.
Stay tuned for our feature article on Nieh.